The Kingdom of Men once united the entirety of our world of Delion under its rule. From his throne in the Imperial City, the High King and his generals governed the four regions of the world. Two thousand years ago none on the world could have conceived of such a powerful nation. There were no great cities, the western Norseland was a patchwork of kingdoms ruled by vicious warlords, in the central grasslands tribes of nomads struggled against bandits and raiders, the Outlying Isles were embroiled in war between dozens of Elven tribes, and Men of the East huddled in small villages living in fear of Goblin slavers.
Eventually, the state of affairs began to shift.
A small tribe of Norse won an unlikely victory against a larger foe. With their new territory they established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. Surrounding kingdoms were conquered and absorbed, and the army of the blue banner marched from their city on the northern mountain face and surged south. Soon kingdoms were submitting without a fight, and what was once a small tribe of men united the entirety of Norseland under a single blue banner.
Far to the north across the ocean, an Elven warrior was struck with a revelation from the gods. Shouting from the center of every village and town he gathered followers and spread a message of peace and unity. Slowly the Elven tribes put down their arms and entered a golden age of advancement and culture, building great temples in the jungles of the isles.
A villager in the east watched as his wife and children were slaughtered before his very eyes by a goblin warchief. Where others would have cowered in fear, this man took up a sword and fought back against the goblins. Inspired, his neighbors joined him in defending their homes and drove back the vile green attackers. Using stolen goblin weapons and armor the Eastmen gathered a militia and attacked the camps and outposts of the goblins, forcing them further and further back through the steppe before finally chasing them back into the desert across the mountain and burning the great goblin city of Nizra to the ground.
Finally, in the central grasslands a warlord arose. He and his kinsmen called themselves High-Born, and they desired conquest. The warlord hired bandits as mercenaries and took whole cities for his clan; soon the High Empire was born. Expanding to encompass the entire central region of the Mainland, the High Empire became a center of trade and civilization despite its brutal past. Roads were built between every settlement, great port cities rose, and the Imperial City became the largest and most important city in the entirety of Delion.
This was the Era of Four Nations. There was peace and commerce between the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of elves. All was well until five hundred years ago the old High King Orin passed. Even before his remains had been placed into the great catacombs in the Gold Mountain, his son Aaron had taken the throne and begun laying out his ambitious plans.
The first war was against the Elves. Great fleets of Imperial ships bearing the Empire’s legions crossed the sea and landed on the shores of the Outlying Isles. The Legion burnt whole cities to the ground and built colonies over the ashes. With the wealth from the islands and control of trade across the central ocean, the High Empire grew into an unstoppable superpower. When the Imperial Legion marched across the Empire’s borders to the East and West, the Norse and the Eastmen were powerless to stop their advance. While it took many decades of bloody warfare, High King Aaron had achieved his goal. At the time he was one hundred years old.
For four hundred years Aaron remained the High King, building the Kingdom of Men into a machine of great and terrible power. Legion outposts dotted the landscape of the Mainland, acting as police and guards through the land as well as quashing any attempt at rebellion. The Elves were allowed a small level of self-government, though they were still under the watchful eye of the colonial general.
Even for a member of the race of Highborn Men five hundred was extremely old. Despite this High King Aaron showed no signs of age. Many rumored he had made a pact with dark gods to extend his life, and as he grew older his rule grew crueler. Discontent rumbled not only through the people of the Kingdom but through the sons of Aaron, each of whom desired to ascend to the throne. Antonio, the youngest and therefore least likely to receive any inheritance, began an ambitious and evil scheme. At a grand feast of nobles and the royal family, the meals of each son and the High King himself were poisoned. The plan required perfect timing; each meal was to be dosed precisely so that the toxin would take effect simultaneously. To this day no one knows what went wrong, though some circles whisper that the assassin hired to poison each meal had been paid by a third party to add extra poison to the meal of the High King. When the King began to choke and die long before his progeny, each son drew his sword and accused the others of poisoning their father. Before he could flee, Antonio was stabbed to death by one of his own brothers.
The Empire was thrown into chaos. Left without an heir to the throne, the power structure of the Kingdom of Men faltered. Generals and nobles alike fought for the throne, but none prevailed. In the colonies a secret society of Elves had been lying in wait for centuries, waiting for a moment like this. With fearsome suddenness the Elves rebelled and expelled the colonial generals and forced the Legion to retreat, establishing the New Elven Isles as a nation free of the Kingdom. Seeing the state of weakness, the Norse renounced the Kingdom and tore down the red banners and burnt them in great bonfires. Soon the blue flag of Norseland was once again flying from the City in the Mountain. The Eastmen too claimed independence, raising a militia and reestablishing the old border. The island city of Din, once a hub of trade between the central realm and the eastern realm, declared itself an independent city state. In the Imperial City a woman of noble birth manipulated and assassinated her way to the throne, decreeing herself the first Empress of the Imperial Remnant.
The Great Civil War has embroiled the world. The Imperial Remnant retains control of the central realm and its legions march continually in attempts to push the borders to the east and west. Armies of Eastmen and Norse venture out to raid Imperial supply lines and villagers on each side are caught in the conflict. People living near the borders of the conflict flee their homes, and a large population of refugees attempts to find a new home. Most find themselves in the city-state of Din, which has quickly become a place of disparity. The rich and influential live in opulent homes in the inner districts while the outer slums, which were already full of the poor, become flooded with refugees. Those that can pull enough money or clout to get on a ship bound north flee to the Elven isles, where men are treated as less than welcome.
This is the world you find yourself in. Your village has been destroyed and you have lost your friends and family to war, starvation, and disease. As this great war of nations rages all around, you struggle to simply survive.
You are a refugee from the most expansive war in the history of Delion.
What is your name, your gender, your age, your race (Norse, Central Commoner, Eastman, Elven), what was your profession, and do you find yourself
On a ship sailing north to the mysterious jungles of the Elven isles?
In a port city near the border in the Kingdom of Eastmen, trying find a way out ?
Hiding from soldiers in the snowy forests of Norseland?
Captured by a Legion caravan in the marshes of the central realm?[This is the start of what I hope will be man suggestion RPs set in the world of Delion, where the world and history are fleshed out and progressed by player interaction]
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Topic: You are a refugee from a civil war [Low Fantasy suggestion game] (Read 991 times)